Munchak: Don’t judge CJ based on five carries

Titans running back Chris Johnson didn’t deliver the bounce-back performance fans had been hoping for in the preseason opener. But Titans coach Mike Munchak says a five-carry sampling isn’t enough to compare him to last season.

Johnson, who finished with a career-low 1,047 yards in 2011, finished Sunday’s loss to Seattle with just eight yards on five carries.

“You still want to have success if you’re in one play or 50 plays, but it’s hard to get excited over five carries,” Munchak said. “The first carry is a mistake on a blitz and … he loses four yards on his carry, so take into effect that that is counted as one of his five carries.

“His next carry he has a 10-yard run so you have to look at what is happening and hope that if he had played more he would have gotten better. I would think if he would play a game he would have continued to have gotten better throughout the game, just like the others guys did.”

Munchak hopes to double Johnson’s rushing attempts in the Titans’ second preseason game, against Tampa Bay. That should provide more of an indication of where Johnson stands.

“I said earlier we have to go by what we see in practice because we have seen more of that then game play,” Munchak said. “I don’t think there is a change in (Johnson’s) style. It’s more about running confident and that you’re comfortable in the system and the scheme and your abilities. I think the more you do that in preseason the better we will all do.”

Munchak wasn’t in as forgiving a mood regarding Johnson’s two dropped passes.

“It is disappointing,” Munchak said. “That is the whole point of preseason and that is the value of preseason … In practice, you’re not thinking about getting hit. It is a different mindset.

“Why a guy drops it? I don’t know. Obviously we do the same kind of work each week and we work on catching balls and we do it over and over again. So why it happened that particular play? I don’t know but hopefully we won’t see it again.”